Aggregates of slags



3,118,778 AGGREGATES F SLAGS Franz Rodis, Knapsack, near Cologne, and Josef Cremer,

Hurth-Hermulheim, Germany, assignors to Knapsack- Griesheim Aktiengesellschaft, Knapsack, near Cologne,

Germany, a corporation of Germany No Drawing. Filed Apr. 15, 1960,'Ser. No 2 Claims priority, application Germany Apr. 22, 1959 2 Claims. (Cl. 106-86) The present invention relates to aggregates having substantially closed pores.

It is known that slags obtained as lay-products in many processes of the chemical and metallurgic industries can be used for various industrial purposes in the form of slag sand, slag .L'ool, gravel or cast bricks. In the first place the building materials industry is interested in substances that are suitable as aggregates for the manufacture of light concrete, such as blast furnace slags.

It has now been found that slags obtained, for example, in electrothermal phosphate reduction furnaces, after having been foamed by the process disclosed in US. patent application Serial No. 815,715 filed May 25, 1959, can be used with special advantage as aggregates for light concrete for the manufacture of molded bricks, heaped and reinforced concrete.

Briefly in the above-mentioned copending application is disclosed a technique for foaming slags, particularly short slags, by treating the hot liquid in a special container equipped with water and gas difusion means whereby water, steam, and air are injected into the liquid slag causing it to become a thick fluid pulp, and then, in a second step, increasing the surface area of the still-liquid material and feeding a measured amount of additional water into the slag until it solidifies as a foam.

In the manufacture of light concrete the exact dosing of the mixing water is rather diflicult since part of the mixing water is always absorbed by the open pores of the aggregates and thus loses its function as mixing water. The other part of the mixing water adheres purely externally to the surface of the aggregates, as it is always the case, for example with compact aggregates, such as gravel or quartz sand. When this fact is not taken into account and an insutficient amount of mixing Water is added, there arises the danger that the cement burns or parches. In practice this danger can be obviated for example by abundantly wetting the aggregates for a prolonged pcriod, so that they are at least damp, that is to say saturated with water when being used.

It is, therefore, obvious that aggregates having open or only partially closed pores always require the addition of a higher amount of water than non-absorbing aggregates. Said higher water content implies a higher water/ cement ratio and a lower resistance to compression than could be obtained with the amount of cement used. Moreover, the higher water content results in a longer setting period of the cement so that the forms can be removed from the light concrete only after a longer period of time.

When a slag is used as aggregate, which has been foamed in a definite manner, the difliculty in dosing the mixing water surprisingly does not appear and the required amount of water can be exactly determined. The

reason for this phenomenon is that the pores of the foam re completely closed. Thus, when wetted with water the slag can only hold the liquid particles adhering to the surface but cannot absorb said particles by capillary action.

Sla s with clo e already known, but in these slags at most of th re closed while at least 15% of the residual pores intercommunicate and thus possess an absorbing action.

As compared therewith, in the slags produced by the process of the aforesaid patent specification more than 85%, namely up to 100% of the pores are closed, as has surprisingly been ascertained, the ratio of CaO to SiO preferably being about 47 to 43.

Experiments carried out with said slag clearly proved that the difliculty in dosing the mixing water is completely done away with, even if the slag is used in an absolutely dry form, since only the surface of this foamed slag is wetted with water but no water can penetrate into the grain.

The fact that in said slag almost 100% of the pores are closed is due to the manufacturing conditions of the aforesaid selective process carried out in two controllable stages.

The novel substance, in the following briefly referred to as slag, has the following chemical composition: about of calcium metasilicate, 3% of aluminum oxide, 6% of calcium fluoride and 1% of magnesium and alkali metal oxides.

The mineralogical examination of the slag under the polarization microscope and by structural analysis with the aid of X-rays indicates that about 8090% of the slag is crystalline. The principal constituent of the slag is a substance which is chemically identical with wo me a mineral occurring in nature. The slag furthermore contains small amounts of gehlenite, ackermanite and mixed crystals (melinites). In view of this mineral composition the slag can be designated as technical wollastonite.

In finely comminuted form the slag has an alkaline reaction in water (pH 8-10), so that free acid cannot occur.

The swelling and contraction properties of the slag are as favorable as those of known blast furnace slags.

A special physical property of the slag is its uniform structure. The uniform distribution of pores of almost equal size with a suflicient thickness of the partitions is a necessary condition for the good grain stability and the favorable unit weight.

As already mentioned above, independent of their size, the pores are completely closed globular hollow spaces. The surface of the pore walls is glossy, smooth and so tight that, contrary to the known natural and artificial slags, a connection between the individual pore spaces does not exist. This fact distinctly results from the extremely low gas permeability of the slag which amounts to 0.0006 nPerm, a value that is four powers of ten smaller than the gas permeability of, for example, firebricks having a value of about 6.0 nPerm.

The pore volume fluctuates by about 70% as ascertained by determinations with cut cubes having an edge length of about 20 mm. The unit weight of the test samples is 0.7 g./cm.

On account of its impermeability to gases, which also excludes the convective heat transfer, the slag is excellently suitable for heat insulating purposes. It is little sensitive to changes of temperature and still stable at a temperature The aggregates A mentioned in the table are foamed slags according to the invention in which almost 100% of the pores are closed and the aggregates B are commercial blast furnace slags having only about 60% closed pores.

above 1,000 C.; the heat transfer coeflicient increases 5 The table shows that with the use of the aggregates aconly slightly with rising temperature. cording to the invention building materials having special The following examples serve to illustrate the invention favorable properties can be produced. Example I reveals but they are not intended to limit it thereto. a distinct difference in the resistance to compression and the grade between the material produced with the aggre- P gate A of the invention and the material produced with a In blast furnace slags the pores are only partially know? aggrFgatF In f II the g f closed. The required total water content of a light conespecially exlsts the umt welgh? and aPcordmgly Crete mixture produced with Such a slag as aggregate is the more favorable we1ght class obtained with the aggreabout 16% by weight (cf Wesche Versuche an sebum gate of the invention. Example III shows that with the beton ans Hmtenbimsyv Stahl und Eisen, 76 (1956) NO. use of the aggregates according to the invention a consid- 1 pages erably lower amount of cement 1s required.

For producing, for example, a concrete of grade B30 Accordmg to German mduslnfll Standarfl (DIN) 1045 a cement content of about 170 kg./m. is required, so that g B deslgnates the mlmmum reslstance to the water/cement factor is 095 (Wesche, Beton ans pression in kg./cm. of a cube after 28 days for construcporigen Stofiren, Bauverlagambfiq Wiesbaden page 2, 20 tron of steel concrete and according to DIN 18152, grade FIGURE other known light concrete aggregates, V designates the minimum resistance to compression of such as natural pumice, broken bricks, bulking clay and sohd concrete bnclfs after the like having prepondemmly or exclusively open Pores DIN 1164 contains prescriptions for the manufacture of give of course, high,r water/cement factom standard cements. A cement 325 means for example when using the aggregates having closed Pores accord that correspondingly prepared test samples possess after ing to the invention there are obtained, under otherwise 28 days resfstance to P of 325 identical conditions, water/cement factors of about 0.65. Further cluectlons for the exammatlon of concrete can According to the Wesche reference (page 2, FIGURE 2) be found i DIN 1048' the indicated regularity of the water/ cement value, which l also applies to light concrete although to a limited extent, 3O Llght Weight P mixes q f a foam a reduction of the water/cement factor from about 0.95 w havmg umformly dlsmbuted Pores to about 0.65 yields, under the condition of the same which i than 85% up to .100% of the pores are cement glue rigidity, an increase of the resistance to comclosed Sald aggregate bemg obtamed from Slag fomled pression to about twice the value. In the manufacture as a by'product electmtlmmal, phosphfie f f of light concrete bricks this fact makes it possible either f q and contammg calcium oxlde and 511mm dioxide to reach the following higher grade, that is to say instead m a l of about of grade V25 the grade V50 instead of v50 the grade 2. Light concrete mixes according to claim 1 wherein V75, or when an increase of the resistance to compression i? Slag aggregate conslsis of abqut 90% calclum F is not wanted a smaller amount of cement can be used. f about 3% alummum oxlde aboui 6% calcium The essential advantage of the slags to be used accord 40 fluoride, and up to 1% manganese and alkali metal oxides. ing to the invention resides in that the dry material can be used without preliminary wetting with water, whereby References Cited m the file of thls patent reproducible and, above all, smaller water/cement factors UNITED STATES PATENTS can be obtained. Higher resistances to compression or 2,021 95 Gladney 25 935 lower cement contents mean a better economy. Finished 2 212,9 2 Stuart et 1 Aug 27 9 light concrete parts or heaped concrete walls harden at 2,443,103 Gallai-Hatchard June 8, 1948 the begmnmg more rapidly so that shorter periods o 2,460,742 Gallai-Hatchard Feb. 1,1949 storage are required, the transport weight is reduced and 2 590,901 stout et 1 APR 1 1952 the forms may be removed after a shorter period. In the 2,590,902 Stout et a] APR 1 1952 case of vapor hardening the heat consumptlon can be 2,778,160 Gallai-Hatchard Jan. 22, 1957 considerably reduceld dtue t; the fact that useless storage 2,977,239 patsons Man 23, 1961 wa er, as occurs wit a sor lllg aggrega es, is not present. Finally, the more rapid drying of light concrete produced OTHER REFERENCES with the slag of the invention is of advantage, for ex- Lea et al.: Chemistry of Cement and Concrete, pub. ample in apartment construction. 1956 by Edward Arnold, Ltd., London. (Chapter XV The following building materials were produced: relied upon.)

Percent Granu- Cement Water/ Dry unit Resistance Weight class, Examples y Aggregates lation, content, cement weight, to compresclass, Grade volume mm. kg./m. factor kg./m. smn, kg./m.

kg/cm.

I fig g E 100 0. 1,450 1,40o1,e00 v15 zig f i g 1$ 0.00 1,400 70 1,400-1,e00 v50 n 38 z fg ii g fl 51$ Y 100 0. 05 1, 300 70 1,2o0-1,40o v50 B 51? 100 0.90 1,490 70 1,400-1, 600 Vac m 100 0. 75 1,450 90 1,40o-1,e00 v75 g8 quartz Sand: 5% 0.85 1,490 05 1,400-1,600 v75 

1. LIGHT WEIGHT CONCRETE MIXES CONTAINING A FOAMED SLAG AGGREGATE HAVING UNIFORMLY DISTRIBUTED PORES IN WHICH MORE THAN 85% AND UP TO 100% OF THE PORES ARE CLOSED, SAID AGREAGATE BEING OBTAINED FROM SLAG FORMED AS A BY-PRODUCT IN ELECTROTHERMAL PHOSPHATE REDUCTION FURNACES AND CONTAINING CALCIUM OXIDE AND SILICON DIOXIDE IN A RATIO OF ABOUT 47:43. 